I've been meaning to find this reference since I saw this thread, but just got a chance to do so.

The question of whether m. is faster or no is not a new one. Geary Rachel tested extensively a long time back; his results were published in the August '94 issue of FoxPro Advisor.

No doubt some things have changed since then, but as I remember, his tests were well designed and might be worth revisiting.

Tamar